Potty Training our (almost) 2.5 year old Boy!

FINALLY!! Yay, my baby boy is potty trained!! I can’t tell you how many times I thought “is this ever going to happen?” and it did. Just like that. Ive had some of my friends ask about potty training a boy so I wanted to answer some questions. I am no expert. At all. But i figured I could tell y’all what we did and if it helps one person out, Ill consider this a worthy post. Plus, I want this post for me because this is a huge milestone!

The question I get a lot is: “Does the peepee go in the potty? Like how does the thing point down?” Well, I first taught Jp by sitting down. If you spread their little legs wide enough, their little thing will point down and the pee will go in the potty. It was very easy to teach JP how top stand up and do it. Let your little boy go to the bathroom with daddy every time daddy goes. It helps and they see how to do it!

We purchased the little potty chairs when the twins were around 20 months old. Jocelynn seemed like she was getting curious about it so we figured why not. They would sit on them naked, play with them and watch TV while sitting on them. Pretty much anything but going in them. So, shortly after they turned two I bought the potty seats. The ones you can just place on top of the potty. I bought a step stool too. In the evenings we always let them run around naked for a while before putting on their night time diapers. We let them explore with the potty seat and take them to it if they tell us they need to pee or poo. Around 4 months ago we were all just having fun and dancing in the playroom and all of the sudden JP said he needed to peepee. I said “OK, you want to go use the potty? Ill give you a Reese cup if you peepee in the potty!” I took him and he went!! He was thrilled! The look on his face was amazing and we rewarded him with a Reese cup and praising him. That night he went two more times. Ever since then I have been playing around with it. I would take him every now and then or when he told me he wanted to go. He wasn’t ready to be completely trained yet and I didn’t want him to hate using the potty, so I wasn’t going to force it.

I started taking him to the potty in the mornings over the past two months to try and see if he would use number 2. He always does #2 in the morning and he doesn’t go hide like my little miss diva does. I can always tell when he needs to or is about to go, so I would grab his hand and we would run straight to the potty. There were many times he didn’t go but when I finally got him to go it was hilarious! He started laughing so hard and Id be lying if I said I didn’t giggle once or twice too. After he went I rewarded him with TWO Reese cups.. for obvious reasons. After that one time he was a little more comfortable with it and he started wanting to go. Every time he wanted to go I would take him. He didn’t get any rewards if he did not go though.

Around two weeks ago, on a Thursday (if I’m being precise), JP woke up and wanted to peepee in the potty. He went and I rewarded him. He wanted to go again after that. I thought “hhmmmm, well lets just go ahead and do this then.” Y’all, that day he used the potty all.day.long. I even showed him how to stand up and pee and he’s been doing it ever since. I even let him wear big boy underwear for nap time and he woke up dry! I do have to say.. I did not let him have a lot of juice before nap time and I made him go at least three times before laying him down to make sure he was completely empty. I watched the monitor like a hawk while he was sleeping. When he started moving I went in there immediately and took him straight to the potty. He didn’t want to pee and kept saying “i don’t wike to peepee in the potty”. I persuaded him with Reese cups and showing daddy when he gets home. He went! He kept going all day long! Friday he did even better. We went outside to play and I showed him he could peepee in the grass if he needed to (i kept him naked from Thursday to Saturday morning). OMG. When I showed him how to pee outside, it was like the best thing ever to him. Even when we were inside he would tell me “I wanna go peepee in the gwass”. I took him because I think whatever it takes, right? That day he went #2 in the potty! I couldn’t believe how smoothly it was going. I think he was just finally ready. I will tell you that the whole going #2 thing isn’t that easy. I mean I take him at least 15 times before he actually goes and I do everything in my power to help him. I give him my phone to look at pictures, I give him a fishing magazine; I mean anything. I even gave him a paci one time but took it right back after he went.

Saturday went even more smoothly. That’s the day my parents took Maddie to the beach with them so I was really able to focus on the training. When they got up from their nap, we took them fishing. This was his foist time fully clothed while potty training. I kindly explained to him that if he needed to peepee, he needed to tell mommy or daddy and we would pull his pants down so he could peepee off the boat. Well, that’s all that little boy needed to hear. He wanted to go as soon as we got out there because he just wanted to “peepee on the wake”. What is it with guys and wanting to pee everywhere? All I am saying.. It must be nice because there I was about to explode and my little boy had peed 23 times already. Anyways, JP did great and did not have any accidents that day either.

Monday rolled around and Matt’s dad wanted to take them to their VBS. I told them how small of a bladder JP had and that he would probable need to pee a lot. I was so nervous for him. Guess what? He came home in DRY underwear and only peed once while they were gone! Rhonda and Joey said he did great! I just couldn’t believe how good he was doing!

On that Thursday I took the twins to Birmingham before Madelynn came home. We needed to run a few errands and I told him to tell me whenever he needed to pee. Well, we get to Costco and he has to pee. So we went into the bathroom and I just held him up while he peed. I didn’t think he would do it but he did! When we left he had to pee again. I already had Jocelynn in the car and I didn’t want to take everything back in again so I just pulled his pants down really quick, hovered over him and let him pee right there in the parking lot very close to my car. Yes, I am that mom. But before you judge me, I have THREE in diapers and we are ready for a small financial break. I actually did this several times that day because it was just easy and he loved it. He didn’t have any accidents that day either!!

He doesn’t ask for a Reese cup every time anymore and I think that started probably on the fourth day. But when he does remember and says “i get a Reese cup” you better believe I get it for him! We are all still new to this and he has had a couple of accidents recently but that was due to mommy and daddy not paying enough attention a couple times. But I am so proud of him!! If i can give you any piece of advice it would be…. Don’t force them. They will when they are ready and when they are ready just make sure you have plenty of their favorites on hand!! And praise!! Like throw a damn fit about your child and the fact that he just used the potty! Its a huge thing and they need to know its a huge step! I think rewarding him and praising him over the top dealt with the huge success he has had. And of course bribery… Fishing poles, tackle box, new big boy underwear. I mean anything that gets them pumped up about using the potty, take advantage of it!!